Defense attorney Charles White said he will need at least two hours at sentencing to present witnesses who will speak about the good Freeman has done for the community. He said he will ask the judge to give him a sentence lower than the 34 months.

White tried unsuccessfully to get Kelley to allow Freeman to stay out of jail until his sentencing. Because the jury convicted him of two second-degree felonies, Kelley ordered him taken into custody immediately.

ORIGINAL POST: Lawyers in Clarence Shahid Freeman’s extortion trial are now delivering their closing arguments to jurors in the case surrounding claims the community activist used an anonymous letter to try to get a former superintendent to make concessions worth nearly $1 million.

It’s a much earlier than expected end to the trial that attorneys in the case once expected to last 10 days.

If a jury convicts him, Freeman faces up to 30 years in prison on one count each of extortion and threats and unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior.

According to prosecutors, who presented hours of recorded conversations between Freeman and former Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Wayne Gent, Freeman used an anonymous letter accusing Gent of sexual misconduct with subordinates to convince him to meet several demands, including:

A $895,000 payout for Brantley Sisnett, a schools employee cleared by a jury of accusations he stole school money

The move of a charter school to another location

Approving the use of Freeman’s pet project, a Saturday morning reading program, at local schools

In exchanged, Freeman guaranteed to make the sexual misconduct allegations “go away.”